The day hadn’t proceeded well up to this point. It was so bad actually, that I didn’t remember how well I had liked Rob Zombie on his earlier visit, back in 2015. I was hoping for something good, but I didn’t dare expect anything.

“Copenhell, are you motherfucking high?! (yeah!) Good, so am I!”
- Rob Zombie (vocals)

As it turned out, this was the final show Rob Zombie was doing in Europe, this turn. So, I guess the whole band figured, fuck it, let’s give it all we have left. A short, spoken intro, and then the band blasted onto a stage which visually was a copy of the setup they had used the last time as well. Boxes at the front, lot’s of classic monster film images draped around the place, all fitting and instilling of a certain atmosphere becoming the band.
This time around though, the band members were taking a larger personal part in the visual side of things. For instance, bassist Matt ‘Piggy D.’ Montgomery wore a mask over his face, a mask he would change between songs. The outfits were of course over the top, and again, fitting the band to a T. Rob Zombie himself had his rocked up hippie outfit on, yet for the end of the show, he donned a shirt coloured after the Danish flag, and he also wore an actual Danish flag as a cape.
Piggy and John ‘5’ William Lowery also frequently changed instruments. Not with each other. The many various designs they owned were quite impressive however - to name a couple, there was the wooden grave-cross bass, and the transparent guitar filled with green slime. Pretty darn cool.

More than outfits and instruments, the performance was what impressed the most here though. I said they blasted onto the stage, and this was truly the feeling they gave off. They were in constant movement, and Zombie was the main attraction as he danced and pranced about the place, seemingly having the time of his life. This was what set this show apart from so many others, the feeling of a band just having pure, undiluted fun, loving every minute they were on stage. And off it as well, as it were; as More Human Than Human played, Zombie braved the security fence, by walking on top of it like a carny linedancer. Later, during John 5’s solo, Zombie would again venture into the pit, ground level this time, and join the crowd in applauding the skilled guitarist. For good reason, I’d have to say - I’m not normally a fan of solo’s, but John 5 proved that it wasn’t about flashy show-off stuff, but also about getting a good groove going, and that really helped us as an audience stay invested in it.

It wasn’t just the solo the audience was invested in either, it was the entire show. As in any good show, the audience was as big a part of the whole, as the band and the set. Superbeast was the second song of the set, and already here, we heard people loudly shouting along. A little later, after the next song, the band decided to get a little jamming session going, to which the crowd again got to shout along to the best of their abilities.
There was also jumping, partying, and crowdsurfing in great scores - for Well, Everybody’s Fucking In A U.F.O., there was even an inflated alien crowdsurfing around. It escapes my memory at this moment, if it originated from the band or the crowd, but either way, it was fitting and fun. More balloons would appear later, adding to the playfulness of the show.
There were more traditional pieces of show interaction as well, like the shouting contest, but Zombie had a knack for twisting his requests ever so slightly, for a new and interesting result. Example, during a later jam, which started out with James Brown’s Get On Up, moving through The Troggs Wild Thing, and ending in a full rendition of Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop, Zombie asked everyone to get up on the shoulders of each other. How exactly that would work out, I’m not quite sure, but the result was fun nonetheless.

And that pretty much sums up Rob Zombie’s appearance at Copenhell - fun. The band was having fun, the crowd was having fun, I was having fun - what more could one ask for? Not just a little fun, or possibly adequate fun, either. No, this was the most fun I had during the entire festival - after having had a less than great on this the last day of the festival, Rob Zombie took the stage, and knocked it out of the park, figuratively speaking. My mind was blown, it was that awesome!

Setlist:

Dead City Radio And The New Gods Of Supertown
Superbeast
In The Age Of The Consecrated Vampire We All Get High
Living Dead Girl
Scum Of The Earth
Well, Everybody’s Fucking In A U.F.O.
More Human Than Human (White Zombie cover)
Never Gonna Stop (The Red, Red Kroovy)
The Hideous Exhibitions Of A Dedicated Gore Whore
House Of 1000 Corpses
Solo (John 5)
Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones cover)
Thunder Kiss ‘65 (White Zombie cover)
School’s Out (Alice Cooper cover)
Get Your Boots On! That’s The End Of Rock And Roll
Meet The Creeper
Super-Charger Heaven (White Zombie cover)
Ging Gang Gong De Do Gong De Laga Raga
Dragula